Musical wind instrument



Oct. 25, 1949. B. G. LADD MUSICAL WIND INSTRUMENT Filed Dec. 13, 1945INVENTQR Z4017 I (WTMRZORNEY/ Patented Oct. 25, 1949 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in wind,

instruments and is particularly directed to an improved whistle on whicha tune may be played- The outward appearance of the whistle of thepresent invention somewhat resembles an ocarina but its construction andthe art of playing are quite different although both instruments may becharacterized as wind instruments.

One of the objects of the present invention resides in the provision ofa whistle on which by simple manipulation of the players finger a tunemay be played.

Another object of the present invention resides in the provision of aninstrument wherein the usual series of finger openings are eliminated.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of aninstrument of the character indicated which is of unitary and ruggedconstruction, which can be manufactured inexpensively and which isdurable in use.

Further objects of the present invention will be manifest from thefollowing description and the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view of the instrument of Fig. l; and

Figs 4 and 5 are plan views of modified forms of my improved instrument.

Fig. 6 is a front view of the instrument of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawing in detail and first of all to Fig. 1 whereinthe embodiment illustrated is a single unit instrument It which may bemade of clay, ceramic, plastic, wood or any other suit able material.This instrument is provided with a mouthpiece [2 having an inlet opening[4 which is preferably elongated in cross section as more clearly shownin Fig. 3. The inlet opening communicates with a whistle chamber orpassageway it which is provided with a port is terminating adjacent anoutlet or whistling opening I8 in a tone or resonant chamber 20. Thechamber It may, if desired, be in the form of a slot extending from theopening it to the outlet 18. Air blown into the mouthpiece will enterthe chamber and traverse the opening [8 thereby producing a musical orwhistling sound- The tone or resonant chamber 20 is provided adjacentthe whistle chamber. The chambers l6 and 28 are separated by a partition22. This partition extends from upper wall 24 to lower wall 26 and ispositioned slightly forward of the outlet opening l8. As will be seenfrom Fig. 2, the

opening is is in the bottom wall of the tone chamber 20 and the whistlechamber [6 communicates with this opening by way of a port or kerf [9formed in the lower portion of the partition 22.

The top wall of the tone chamber is provided with a tone displacementopening 28 which is in the form of an elongated transverse slot. Thisslot is adapted to receive one finger of the hand of the player which ismoved along the slot during the playing of the instrument to produce thedifferent notes of the musical score being played. The length of theslot is equivalent to one octave so that the entire scale may be playedas the finger is moved from one end of the slot to the other eitherintermittently or continuously by reason of the escape of air from thetone chamber through the exposed portion of the slot. This slot may beequivalent to more than one octave if so desired.

If desired a hole 2| may be provided in one of the walls of the tonechamber whereby the pitch may be altered by the player covering thishole with his fingers. Instead of using the players finger for thispurpose an adjustable closure may be provided- While the hole 2| isshown in the rear wall, it is to be understood that it might well beplaced in the bottom or side wall, if desired.

It will be seen that with the instrument described a player can play anentire scale in one octave and consequently a tune. It will also be seenthat the notes of the scale can be played intermittently as ininstruments with separate finger openings and in addition a continuousscale may be played. It will also be seen that the instrument can beplayed by a novice after a brief lesson, the only skill required beingthe simple manipulation of the players finger to and fro along the slotwhile air is being blow into the mouthpiece.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modified form of instrument. In this form dualwhistle chambers 40 and 42, dual tone chambers 44 and 46 and dual tonedisplacement slots 48 and 5t, whistling openings 58 and a singlemouthpiece 52 with two inlet openings 54 and 56 are provided. Thisinstrument is played in the same manner as the instrument of Fig. 1except that one finger of each hand or two fingers of the same hand areplaced on each slot.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 5 an instrument is shown provided withthree whistle chambers 60, t2 and 54, tone chambers 66, 68 and It, tonedisplacement slots 12, M and I6, whistling openings I8, and 82, and asingle mouthpiece 84 with three inlet openings 86, 88 and 90 each lead-3 ing to its respective whistle chamber. This instrument is played inthe same manner as the instrument of Fig. 4 except that three fingersare required for playing the same as will be ob- VlOllS.

It has been demonstrated that any one can play the instrument of Fig. 1after a simple lesson, and that after some little practice theinstruments of Figs. 4 and 5 can readily be played.

While I have illustrated and described three embodiments of my inventionit is to be understood that I do not wish to be limited to the preciseconstruction and arrangement shown, as obviously various changes andmodifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit andscope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A wind instrument comprising a single hollow molding of plasticmaterial, a partition in said molding in the form of a thin wallintegrally united with the inner walls of the molding for separating thesame into a whistle chamber and a tone chamber, and a mouthpiece formedas an integral part of the molding provided with an air inlet openingcommunicating with the Whistle chamber, said partition having an openingtherein Connecting the whistle chamber with the tone chamber, said tonechamber having an outlet opening provided in one of its Walls adjacentto the opening in the partition, said tone chamber having a secondopening in the form of an elongated finger-receiving tone displacementslot in another of its walls opposite the outlet opening whereby when afinger placed in and is moved longitudinally of said elongated slotproduces the different musical notes of the score being played.

2. A Wind instrument comprising a single hollow molding of plasticmaterial, a partition in said molding in the form of a thin wallintegrally united with the inner walls of the molding for separating thesame into a whistle chamber and a tone chamber, and a mouthpiece formedas an integral part of the molding provided with an air inlet openingcommunicating with the whistle chamber, said partition having an openingtherein connecting the whistle chamber with the tone chamber, said tonechamber having three distinct openings in its walls, one an air outletopening, adjacent to the opening in the partition, a second opening forpitch regulation controlled by the movement of a finger thereover and athird opening in the form of an elongated finger-receiving tonedisplacement slot placed opposite the air outlet opening whereby when afinger placed in and is moved longitudinally of said elongated slotproduces the difierent musical notes of the score being played,

3. A Wind instrument comprising a single hollow molded body of plasticmaterial having a bottom wall and spaced substantially upright side andend walls forming an elongated tone chamber, the upper edges of saidside and end walls defining a longitudinally extending opening foraccommodating a finger of the player, said bottom Wall having an airoutlet therein, and a mouthpiece formed as an integral part of the bodyand extending substantially at right angles to the elongated tonechamber and having a slot therein providing an air inlet passagecommun1- eating with the said tone chamber and terminating adjacent saidair outlet, whereby when air is lown into the slot in the mouthpiece anda finger of the player is placed in and moved longitudinally of saidlongitudinal opening different musical notes of the score being playedwill be produced.

BERNARD G. LADD REFERENCES CITED The following references are of recordin the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 394,243 Briggs Dec. 11, 1888467,521 Pizzuti Jan. 26, 1892 504,396 Maher Sept. 5, 1893 632,184Johnson Aug. 29, 1899 641,025 Leech et a1 Jan. 9, 1900 992,487 EllisonMay 16, 1911 1,395,107 Hawk Oct. 25, 1921 1,722,249 Lazare et a1 July23, 1929 2,146,179 Fitchhorn Feb. 7, 1939 2,214,314 Tillery Sept. 10,1940

